telecommunications technician

warehouse specialist

journeyperson electrician

tower technician

fiber technician

Nextlink Internet

When I first started here, it was pretty decent. The workload was evenly distributed between me and 2 other techs. Both other techs ended up quiting, so I was the only tech for a huge area for over a month. They had opportunities to hire more techs, but wouldn't because, "the market isn't performing enough to justify hiring more techs." They expect you to work like you're 3 people. The routes they had me do were terrible. There were days I would have appointments over an hour apart from each other and then still have to drive an hour to get home. They also didn't give me all the tools they wanted me to have for the job, then tried making me pay for tools I was "missing" that I never got in the first place. They did however finally get me everything, but over a year after I started. They have a lot of bonus incentives too, but that system is a joke too. It really only tailors to the Texas market. They don't take into consideration the differences in the markets. Yeah they started a different kind of incentive bonus for quality instead of units, but I doubt it will make any difference. Employees in Texas have it made compared to other states. Work and home life balance is awful too. We have notes to do for each job and they expect them done out in the field  before we get to the next job, or done at the end of the day. Either way you're out later, or bringing your work home with you. There are training courses on the computer to do all the time as well, and they don't allot any time during the work week to complete these. They expect it to be done on your time. Yes you can clock in while you're doing it, but that's still time spent at home doing work after working for them all day. The schedule is rarely ever actually 8 am to 5 pm either. They expect you at your first job at 8, regardless of how far away it is. So most the time you are on the road by 7 am, or earlier depending on if you have to go stock up your truck, and can end anywhere from 4 pm to 9 pm or even later. Then they have on call, which only pays $50 a week for the week you are on call; doesn't matter if you go out once, or every day. They are also moving faster than they can keep up with. They keep buying all these smaller companies and don't even finish fully integrating them before starting on another one. They have high aspirations yes, but lack the man power necessary to move at the rate they keep trying to. They keep opening one candy bar before finishing the previous one. I brought that up to a superior, and they said they are trying to figure out how to eat the candy bars faster. Which is great, but the problem with that, is if you keep eating a bunch of candy bars really fast, you end up with a stomach ache and throwing up everywhere. That, in my opinion is why everyone is expected to work like they are 3 people. I could name of a lot of people that have had to do way more work than what is in their job description and why those people have left.  Myself included. So if you want to be part of a company that is in the adolescent stage of their life, and be in a constantly changing environment, its not the worst place to work. Myself personally, I like knowing when I'm going to be home and actually be done with work at the end of my shift.

I've worked for ten years prior to coming to Nextlink. Prior to this, I had always been trying my best to advance, and hit a wall everywhere I went. It seemed like, at every other job, showing excellence in my position was all the more reason to keep me there rather than advance.
That all changed when I joined Nextlink. They recognize excellence and work carefully to culture it into what is needed for the next position you want. I have been asked time and time again where I want to be in six months. And I've advanced several times in only a few months.
The work can be demanding in the call center, and the higher positions also have a lot of associated work and responsibility. From sending and reading emails to double-checking cases and following up with the rest of the team, things can pile up and get a little stressful. But those who rise to the occasion and show excellence in spite of it will have abundant opportunities. 
The training took a week, and I felt confident my first day in the call center. The instructors are amazing and instill a great deal of confidence. They said Nextlink is a family, which I was very leery of at first. But I agree, this is a workplace filled with people who take their job seriously and want nothing more than to provide outstanding customer service. 
The CEO is constantly involved in the goings-on at the company, and was providing lunches throughout COVID so the employees didn't need to go out. Additionally, there is always a cake when there is a birthday. The rest of management is always there to help, and usually are, solicited or not. It's the kind of job I'd been looking for, and couldn't be happier that I found it.
The most difficult part of the job is learning how to pace yourself. If you're a hard worker, it's easy to want to plow through phone calls, but it is very important to re-center after each call, especially the rough ones. However, the most enjoyable part of the job is the camaraderie that the teams have. When someone struggles with a case, most everyone will hear you out and commiserate with you. But they'll also laugh when cases involving misunderstandings arise.
Honestly, this job is what saved me. COVID caused me to lose my last job, and this one is what carried me throughout it. While I definitely feel for those affected by the virus, I never would have gotten this opportunity if not for the outbreak. If you put in the work, it will be recognized and you will go places. I couldn't recommend it enough, but experiences may vary if you're not willing to do your very best every day. 

A typical day of work consists of coming in, taking phone calls, and working tickets.

The training was initially very technical and good for helping you actually do your job, but it has shifted to be more service-oriented and focuses on just buying time and putting customers through the motions.

Management changes things frequently to the point where office process is completely different in a matter of only a month or two, and the changes are seldom a step towards solving fundamental issues with the job itself.

Turn-over is very high, so there isn't much of a work culture to speak of.

The hardest part of the job is keeping up with the myriad ways management communicates policy changes. The changes themselves are not hard to implement, but they consistently struggle with communicating them to the point that it's gamble whether or not you're handling something correctly.

The best part of the job is when it's slow. You certainly earn your keep during an outage, but slow periods are largely spent simply waiting for calls, and the extra time to work tickets keeps it low-stress.

If you're good at making up the difference between training and reality, and if you can stick to the rules, then you can stay afloat easily, but you're always prone to a bad week or two that'll get you axed. There are promotion opportunities, but jobs above entry-level are hectic, inefficient, and are not guaranteed to last. The pay itself is somewhat low.

Ultimately, if you can get to a point where you can effortlessly solve common customer issues and keep up with policy changes, then this is perhaps the easiest job relative to pay.

I love working here because it is a goal oriented driven company that cares about each employee that works here from the CEO down.  

We all work as a team to get the best results we can as a company, we focus on communicating more because that is hard sometimes at any company. Great communication helps things move faster so we continuously work on that. 

We have core values here that we hold each person to these standards like "Do what's right" "Lean into action" " Continuously Improve" "Be performance driven" and much more. This helps us all be accountable for how we should act to get the job done the way it needs to be done. 

It is a challenging job that allows you to set goals for yourself and gives you the tools you need to accomplish those goals, so it is very self-fulfilling if you want it to be it's up to the employee. So much opportunity to grow and do great things here just have to apply yourself. 

The C-levels at this company work together on a daily basis to make the absolute best decisions for everyone and drive opportunity for all with efficiencies, they also always value each employees thoughts and feedback to make things better all the time.   

The most enjoyable thing is many things really but to name a few, setting goals and achieving them, thinking outside the box in marketing and seeing our installers think outside the box on how to get customers installed when they have never had a great internet solution till, we built a network there. Hearing customers talk about how having a great connection has changed their life whether they work from home now or their child was disabled and unable to go to school but can now do online classes and really so much more!  

NextLink is a great company, I have worked for many like it. But NextLink does strive in advancement we are always trying to stay ahead of the tech world. They treat their employees good...most of the time. Sometimes it seams we are forced to adapt and learn new skills/tasks with no to little compensation adding more work for the same pay. The pay scale is not bad (I’ve seen worse) but could be better “kinda hard to train someone with zero experience who is hired on making more than you of years”. And at times it seams management seems over worked as they have little to no time to call you/return phone calls or even spend time going over training points and helping techs who are having a hard time. This is not always the case...for all the bad there is even more good NextLink is still growing, still learning out of the 8-10 years of me doing telecommunications NextLink is by fare the better company I have worked for. Do they have problems? Yes! Are there bad apples in the bunch? Yes! Do they micromanage? Yes! But so do many many other companies but again there are those in the company who truly care for the company as a whole and not just a job it’s those people who make working here great, it’s those people who will continue to make this company thrive. So to answer most questions, Yes, yes NextLink is an amazing company if your willing to give it time to grow “this is a tech company it’s always evolving” I love working with them and will continue to do so, they have taken care of me and my own so far, and we do our part for the community and less fortunate communities. 

Technical Support is at least 50% customer service and 50% technical knowledge, maybe more like 80/20.  I've learned a lot about how fixed wireless internet works and how to get it working when there's a problem and I've learned a lot about speaking  with customers, addressing their concerns and educating them about what needs to be done to restore their service.  Management is enthusiastic and works to make sure we have the training and hands on experience to do our jobs well.  The company has adjusted to remote working for most of the staff during the pandemic and often has catered lunches for those who are working in the office.  Management frequently asks for suggestions on how to improve processes and what kind of additional training we feel we need.  There is a rigorous quality assurance standard that the company applies to each call and one call for each employee is monitored once a week.  The hardest part of the job is hitting all the quality assurance marks on each call and keeping your monthly score up.  Healthcare is good.  PPO for a family of four takes a big chunk of paycheck but the co-pays and RX benefits are very good. 

Not Worth the Stress — Poor Management and Overwhelming Expectations

I was actually glad Indeed asked me to leave a review — this job was a serious wake-up call.

The workload is beyond excessive. You're expected to juggle responsibilities across multiple states, acting both as an engineer and a call center agent — all while being severely understaffed. There are simply not enough NOC technicians to reasonably handle the demand. Management makes it clear, directly or indirectly, that you are completely replaceable. Don’t expect support — they’re unresponsive when you need help, but quick to point fingers if anything goes wrong.

The compensation doesn't come close to matching the level of responsibility or stress. The pressure is unrelenting, and the environment is draining. Micromanagement is rampant, policies are overly strict, and there’s very little sense of appreciation or morale.

As for the work culture — it lacks maturity. It’s loud, chaotic, and not professional. Music in the NOC is more of a distraction than a motivator, and coworkers often behave more like kids than professionals.

The constant need to ask questions and relearn things over and over is exhausting — not because learning is bad, but because the support structure is broken. This job quickly became more of a burden than a career step. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you're desperate or looking to burn out.


I worked in the Illinois office when the transition started from the previous company to NextLink. At the start it was exciting and seemed like a good opportunity, but as time grew on where I saw myself within NextLink became less and less.  Management had favoritism and would talk behind their employees back.  Equipment needed wasn't always provided and they always talked about how busy they were, but wouldn't give out the hours.

Management also made you wear full ppe gear such as n95, gloves, safety glasses, and foot covers while in customer homes, but wouldn't provide hazard pay from wearing ppe because of COVID. When I started I was told double over time, but it went to time and half before I left.

Company did provide work cell phone, laptop, and attire, but Management wasn't comfortable letting employees use work vehicles to get to and from work, unless you were favorited, forcing you to always go back to the office to get your personal vehicle.

The job is a good start for someone with no college education or relative experience for working with internet, but didn't provide any promise of opportunity unless you were already a favorite.

Pay is decent for entry level. Training programs are still being created so individuals attention can dictate if you actually learn the job. They are eager and have historically promoted from within but due to training the talent pool to draw from is limited. Pay increase from promotions is negligible so they have a hard time keeping talent beyond a few months that aren't promoted to Network Operations or higher department. Paid holidays, flexible schedule are a plus. Always looking for something to celebrate and buy team lunches. Hardest part of the job is keeping up with ticket flow as many agents aren't qualified or trained well enough and company is in such a hurry to grow they won't weed out the underperformers fast enough. Each department that should have to work together is treated autonomously so procedures for the same issue can be different for each and you don't regularly get support from those departments when you ask for it. Enjoyable part is if you have talent and do your job at a high level which is not hard, you will be recognized and offered small promotions within the department.

Overall, there is a distinct communication problem with this company from one department to the next. This leads to a stressful and consistently changing work environment. As an installer it is not uncommon for a new job to be scheduled to you late in the day when you’re wrapping up and preparing to go home. Work/ home balance is almost nonexistent. This job is perfect for someone who likes to work nonstop and doesn’t have a family that they enjoy going home to at a decent hour everyday.  Once out of training, installers are expected to be on a rotating on call schedule which isn’t fair to everyone depending on your assigned zone. My zone only had 2 technicians which meant I was expected to be on call every other week while others were only on call every other month. Once again, not a good job if you’re not willing to drop everything on your day off and go complete a service call that may be over an hour away from your house. You’re also expected to work in the rain and in severe wind even though a lot of your jobs will require you to be on a roof with a large pole. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Telecommunications technician 7 salaries reported	$22.71 per hour
Warehouse specialist 2 salaries reported	$17.50 per hour
Journeyperson electrician 8 salaries reported	$33.50 per hour
Tower technician 18 salaries reported	$27.00 per hour
Fiber technician 17 salaries reported	$23.47 per hour

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